Smeal Launches Executive Education Program For Women

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (July 18, 2007) – Penn State Executive Programs at the Smeal College of Business will launch a new executive education program this fall designed specifically for women and focusing on the unique challenges and opportunities that women face in their work environments.

Executive Program for Women Leaders, conducted in alliance with SHAMBAUGH Leadership, will be held October 8-12 on Penn State's University Park campus.

The program's content is based on Rebecca Shambaugh's forthcoming book titled It's Not A Glass Ceiling, It's A Sticky Floor, to be published by McGraw-Hill this fall. The author and instructors will share their own case studies and experiences.

The four-day program utilizes targeted assessments and tools that create a greater awareness of the self-limiting beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors—termed "sticky floors" by Shambaugh—that hold women back in their careers. Through diagnostic instruments, action learning exercises, and one-on-one coaching before, during, and after the course, participants will learn to capitalize on essential strategies and behaviors and overcome specific obstacles in order to more effectively lead themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

The sticky floor issues that will be covered in the program include building strategic relationships; making your words count; taking prudent risks; leveraging political savvy;  negotiating for what you want and need;  balancing perfectionism with excellence; avoiding the loyalty trap; and achieving a work-life balance.

Participants will also learn how to gain greater visibility and career opportunities while enhancing both their overall confidence and competence as business leaders.

"By the end of this decade, women will make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce," said Patrick Cataldo, associate dean for executive education at Smeal. "Forward-thinking organizations recognize the need to develop effective leaders and retain women executives.

"Our program combines the resources and reputation of Penn State with SHAMBAUGH's expertise in developing women leaders to help women overcome the challenges and leverage the opportunities specific to them," he said. "Participants will gain proven strategies that will help them reach their individual goals and lead their organizations to success."

"We are delighted to partner with such a high caliber program to expand our reach," said Shambaugh, president and chief executive officer of SHAMBAUGH Leadership. "Hundreds of women and their companies have benefitted from time-tested and proven strategies developed through the SHAMBAUGH WILL Program. The forward-thinking educators at Penn State are opening opportunities for more women to achieve their career goals—and for their employers to expand their leadership capacities."

The Smeal program will be led by Lynette Demarest, senior consultant with SHAMBAUGH and program director for their Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL) Program, who has worked in the field of training and development for more than three decades.

For more details and registration information, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/psep/epwl.html.

About Penn State Executive Programs
Penn State Executive Programs, the executive education division of Penn State's Smeal College of Business, has been serving the development needs of the world's business leaders since 1954, providing both open-enrollment and custom programs. Nearly 36,000 executives from 43 different nations have participated in programs on topics ranging from strategic leadership to supply chain management.

Penn State Executive Programs was recently ranked as the No. 1 provider in the world of customized executive education programs by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of The Economist magazine publisher. The EIU also awarded Penn State Executive Programs its Award of Excellence for open-enrollment programs, making Smeal the only U.S. provider to be rated excellent in both categories.

For more on all the offerings of Penn State Executive Programs, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/psep.

About SHAMBAUGH Leadership LLC
Founded in 1989, SHAMBAUGH's primary mission has been to develop leadership capacity and skills. SHAMBAUGH works on improving the core skills that characterize excellent leaders—relationship development, creativity, innovation, and using continuous learning in a setting that allows participants to experience firsthand the success that is a natural outflow from this work. With three divisions, Leadership Consulting, Executive and Leadership Coaching, and Women in Leadership and Learning, SHAMBAUGH integrates specific corporate goals with individual leadership development.

Headquartered within 10 miles of Washington, and with offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Europe, SHAMBAUGH has developed leaders for corporations such as AOL, Fidelity, IBM, Marriott, Microsoft, MTV Networks, Northrop Grumman, Pfizer, and Sprint Nextel, as well as for the Department of the Interior and other U.S. government divisions.

For more on all the offerings of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, visit www.shambaughleadership.com.